I'm CREATING again!!!

It's been over three weeks since I've felt up to doing much of anything creative. That bronchitis really took a toll on me... but today I was up-and-at-'em once again, with the sewing machine humming and the computer/printer, too. I'm working on my 2006 Journal Quilts - so I can't share those. But I'm also in the midst of designing a quilt for the Fabri-Quilt booth in Chicago for Spring Quilt Market. The theme is "Victorian" which is both broad and limiting at the same time... The fabrics they sent are yummy, if you like traditional floral prints... Alas, most of them are way outside my comfort zone, but that is what pushes me to new creative heights! Or so I hope... For the record Fabri-Quilt fabrics ARE really yummy - they are SO soft, the colors are luscious, and they sew beautifully. They have, of course, a wide range of designs and patterns to choose from, and for each particular assignment, the artists are limited to what the company selects and sends us. So while I love their fabrics, I'm not particularly fond of the traditional patterns.

I've been playing around in my mind with various ways to create a 30 square inch, Victorian-themed art quilt and have decided to use my Grandfather's old photos to bring the Victorian theme to life. The quilt itself will, no doubt, be far from traditional. But the photos will bring tradition to life without any problem whatever - or so I hope!

Here are the fabrics I did NOT choose to use in my project. They're fine, but just not "me."

And here are the fabrics that I WILL be using... (click on the photo and you'll get a larger image.)


I've computer printed some of the photos directly on to the back side of two different printed fabrics. I think they came out OK - we can only hope they work well in the final piece! I may need to paint the pink ones a bit to tone it down a bit. Right now, that pink is awfully jarring...

Here are some of the photos printed on transfer sheets and ready to transfer to the back of several of the fabrics above - the 4 on the right hand side of the photo, actually. I'm more than hoping that the photos transfer well - but, of course, that's always a gamble as to how they turn out. And these are all rather large, making the transfer process (which needs to be done quickly) a bit of a challenge.

As you can see, there's a lot of "hope" in all of this, as in "I sure hope this works!" But at least I'm finally back in the studio having fun again. Hooray for that!